How to Dispose of Garden Plants

How to Dispose of Garden Plants

Lily of the Valley

Vinca

Creeping Charlie, Creeping Jenny, Ground Ivy

Pachysandra

Orange Daylily

Snow on the Mountain

Please do not discard in our woods any parts of these plants or any soil that could contain their seeds. They are alien invasives that do not match the mouth parts and body chemistry of the native insects our birds need to raise their young. They will crowd out the beautiful native wildflowers and plants that nourish our native insects and wildlife.

Along the wide mowed path in our Lathrop Easthampton woods in summer, 2014, Barbara Walvoord, working as a member of the Land Conservation Subcommittee of the Green Committee, pulled out more than 90 Lily of the Valley and Pachysandra plants that had spread from a pile of garden debris. On land that Barbara and Sharon Grace owned in Williamstown, MA, before they came to Lathrop, Vinca and Pachysandra had spread through a large section of a two-acre woods, taking over the native Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bainberry, Canada Mayflower, and others.

If you walk the wide woods path at Lathrop East, an orange flag on the right marks the pile of garden debris where the Pachysandra and Lily-of-the-Valley were found. As it re-emerges, we need to keep pulling it until it gives up.

At Lathrop North, Vinca is spreading from woodside gardens into the adjacent woods.

So if you see it in our woods, PULL IT. Hang the plants on a tree or set them on a brush pile where they cannot touch the ground and possibly reroot. If you pull any of these plants in our woods, let Barbara know, because we are keeping a running record of the numbers of invasives we remove from our land on both campuses and the number of hours that residents and staff spend on land conservation. Barbara can be reached at walvoord@nd.edu, by mail at 45 Huckleberry, or by phone 413-203-5086.